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"The object of the invention is to provide a last-lathe with an automatic mechanism operated by the universal power of the lathe, so as to cause a quick return of the lathe-carriage to the starting-point of turning the last.A further object of the invention is to provide a last-turning lathe with an automatic mechanism which will operate the lathe-carriage of its own accord, while the operator is changing the lasts, so as to insure a quick return of the carriage to its starting place and save the time and labor usually spent by the operator in having to change the work and set the carriage separately.A still further object of the invention is to provide a last-turning lathe with an automatic mechanism for the purpose of returning the carriage, and therefore the cutting-tools to their starting-point, and to cause the return motion of the carriage to stop just a sufficient distance beyond the heel of the last to insure the proper space in which to start another cut without the operator's assistance—that is, without it being necessary for the operator to watch the return of the carriage and change its return mechanism to feed the tool for the next cut."From a web site with information on the Springfield downtown historic district: "...industries established on the Black River include ... Gilman and Son, established in 1854 by F. B. Gilman who invented several improvements in lathes and manufactured reverse last lathes and other lathes for turning irregular forms (The Gilman factory burned in 1981; it was located on River Street at the foot of Elm Street)..." Later on the same page, "Gilman and Son operated a factory on the east bank from 1854 onwards."

This invention relates more particularly, but not exclusively, to machines for turning or shaping last-blocks into lasts of the shape and form of a required model, such machines being of the general character illustrated and described in Letters Patent of the United States to Farley B. Gilman, granted February 16, 1892, and numbered 469,084; and the invention relates particularly to the improved mechanism hereinafter described, whereby the swinging frame supporting the model is pushed out automatically after the last is finished, whereby the carriages which sustain the cutter-head and the model-wheel are returned automatically into position for turning another last, whereby the product is stopped, right side up, uniformly at a select point, and whereby the machine is improved in certain details of construction..."From a web site with information on the Springfield downtown historic district: "The Springfield Art and Historical Society, also known as the Miller Art Center and previously called the Whitcomb Mansion, "The Pillars", and the Gilman Mansion, was built in 1866 by Prentis Whitcomb, a wealthy financier associated with Jim Fiske and Jay Gould of New York City. In the 1890s it was the home of Wilbert Gilman, owner of the Gilman Mill, a lathe manufacturing plant, which was located on the east bank of the Black River at the foot of Elm Street until it burned in 1968. The house was remodeled in c.1917 by Walter Slack who had purchased the Gilman interests."

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